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This paper draws upon learning from three action research projects conducted as part of a Europe-wide project exploring young people's social and political participation. Challenging dominant discourses about what 'counts' as participation and what does not, the paper explores how, through the action research projects, young people engaged in knowledge democracy in 'new democratic arenas'. Building upon experiential knowing and creating knowledge and learning through practice, the young people explored their own democratic knowledge production, communication and engagement within a context of shifting discourses of participation, democratic engagement and active citizenship. The increasing preference of young people for more informal forms of participation as lived practice reflects a shift to young people constructing their own modes of participation and 'remaking democracy' in their own vision and according to their own needs. By working outside of the confines of normative assumptions of democratic practice and participation, young people exercised their own 'political' agency in response to their own priorities, interests and concerns and, in doing so, illustrated that new forms, understandings and practices of knowledge democracy can emerge that reflect the promise of inclusive democratic societies more meaningfully.

The article examines the question of asymmetries in participatory research relationships in institutional contexts. The principle of ethical symmetry forms the theoretical framework for the investigation. It draws on experience from three (participatory) research projects in different settings, involving academics and people living in the settings as co-researchers. The central methodological tool is a research process model used to systematically dissect the research process and its progress over time. The three-step empirical analysis was structured as follows: First, building on Foucault's concept of the dispositif, we discuss the invocations experienced by the academic and co-researchers. Secondly, we investigate how the actors handled the invocations, adopting a relational understanding of agency. Finally, we integrate the two perspectives to explore the possibilities of achieving ethical symmetry. The article concludes with reflections – drawing on the findings from the three case studies – on the impact of the principle of ethical symmetry on social work practice and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For about two decades only marginal relevance was attributed to action research as a research strategy by large sections of the German social science community. The growing international debate on key concepts such as community participation, community-based participatory research and participatory action research were largely ignored. In this paper we want to clarify our concept of action research and to provide arguments for the need to re-evaluate the research potential of this approach. We illustrate the arguments by an analysis of one of the most successful in-service education of teachers' courses in Austria, which is based on action research ("Education and subject matter didactics for teachers"). The second part of the paper argues that the growing number of practical action research examples in German-speaking countries indicates a social demand for this type of research. The paper ends with a theoretical discussion of frequent objections against action research in the German research tradition. (Contains 4 notes.)

The article is based on a participatory action research project with refugees, volunteers and concerned citizens in rural Germany facing the challenges of integration in diverse communities. Integration is an interactionist and open-ended process with the aim of fair chances of participation in society. The word 'integration' is still the political term for concepts to regulate transnational immigration. Participation here means that all concerned groups should have chances to express interests, which needs organised spaces – social public spheres – where these dialogical processes can take place. We firstly present aspects of a participative theory of democracy and link action research intrinsically to it. Secondly we discuss a conception of generating social public spheres in the context of social work which uses methods of participatory action research to organise communication. Last we will describe the Project 'DIWAN – Dialogue and Mobile Exhibitions to Develop Good Coexistence in the Post#x2D;Migrant Society' in which we intend to initiate the building of social public spheres in migration societies by organising future workshops in rural communities. DIWAN shows that the process of societal learning as an element of democratising societies has to be moderated, which is a main task of community#x2D;based social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Action research is suggested as a way to engage teachers in curriculum development and the betterment of teaching practices in schools based on educational research activities. As in other educational domains, action research in science education is employed with both aims to better understand and develop teaching practices and to contribute to teacher continuous professional development. A variety of methodological approaches using action research in science education exists, from more technical toward more emancipatory interpretations. The range of educational settings and goals for which action research is performed is also quite broad. The purpose of this analytical review of the international available literature is to provide an overview of the main aspects in applying action research in science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]